Chart of the month: US utility capex slumps

This month’s chart is somewhat alarming. It shows data from the US Census’s monthly Construction Put in Place survey, giving details of the total spend on drinking water treatment and systems, and wastewater collection and treatment combined with solid waste facilities.

We had anticipated in our last Global Water Market forecast in March last year that 2016 and 2017 would show a continuing recovery in spending. In fact, at the moment the forecast was published, the US market started to decline. The 2016 full-year data suggests total spending of $34 billion – down 8.8% on 2015. The annualised figures for the first three months of this year (shown to the...